Nature and the Supernatural, as Together Constituting the One System of God

by Horace Bushnell

Overview

Horace Bushnell (1802–1876) was a minister in the Congregational church. A prolific author, his Christian Nurture established his reputation, and some scholars have asserted the work's singular importance to American Protestant Liberalism and Christian education in the nineteenth century. This work, first published in 1858, exemplifies Bushnell's importance and influence in nineteenth-century Protestantism and discusses 'the great question of the age'. Controversially defining the supernatural as extant outside the realm of the divine, Bushnell argues that the human is an example of the supernatural, human freedom which makes this so: man acts both within and without the chain of cause and effect; mankind is part of both nature and supernature. Controversially, then, Bushnell places the supernatural within 'the one system of God'. For theologians and scholars of religious history and the history of ideas, this work will be of great interest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108073073
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/19/2011
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge
Pages:	390
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.10(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Introductory – question stated; 2. Definitions – nature and the supernatural; 3. Nature is not the system of God – things and powers, how related; 4. Problem of existence as related to the fact of evil; 5. The fact of sin; 6. The consequences of sin; 7. Anticipative consequences; 8. No remedy in development or self-reformation; 9. The supernatural compatible with nature and subject to fixed laws; 10. The character of Jesus forbids his possible classification with men; 11. Christ performed miracles; 12. Water-marks in the Christian doctrine; 13. The world is governed supernaturally in the interest of Christianity; 14. Miracles and spiritual gifts are not discontinued; 15. Conclusion stated – uses and results.